Hezbollah leader calls Israeli pager attacks a "declaration of war"
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Citizens listen to the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah as he gives a speech through a video conference in Beirut, Lebanon on Aug. 25, 2024. Photo: Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a televised speech on Thursday called Israel's remote detonations of pagers and Walkie-Talkies in Lebanon "a declaration of war" and said Israel will receive "a just punishment" for its actions.
Why it matters: Nasrallah's speech was his first reaction to the clandestine Israeli attack, which killed at least 32 people and wounded more than 3,300.
- Hezbollah said many of those killed and injured were members of the group's military units and institutions.
- Nasrallah didn't elaborate on the militia's retaliation plans but his speech signaled that the Israeli-Lebanese border is headed towards further escalation and the risk of all-out war has dramatically increased.
Driving the news: Several hours before the speech Hezbollah conducted a series of attacks against Israeli forces near the border, killing two Israeli soldiers and seriously wounding several others.
- Israeli fighter jets then conducted a series of strikes in southern Lebanon with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) saying in a statement that "Hezbollah turned southern Lebanon into a fighting area and hid weapons in civilian homes and dug tunnels under them."
- When Nasrallah started speaking, Israeli fighter jets flew in the skies of Beirut and generated sonic booms.
What they're saying: Nasrallah admitted that the pager and Walkie-Talkie attacks were "an unprecedented and historic blow" for Hezbollah and claimed Israel planned to kill 5,000 Hezbollah operatives in a few minutes.
- He said the Israeli attack "crossed all rules and red lines."
- The Hezbollah leader said that on Tuesday, after the first wave of the attack, Israel sent messages to Lebanon and Hezbollah through mediators. Those messages stressed that Israel aims to stop Hezbollah's assistance to Hamas in Gaza and threatened that if the fighting on the Israeli-Lebanese border doesn't stop, there would be another attack.
- "We tell Netanyahu, Gallant and the Israeli military: the fighting on the Lebanese front will not stop before the war in Gaza ends," Nasrallah said.
- Nasrallah also said that the only way Israel can return its displaced citizens to the northern border is by stopping the war in Gaza, adding that a war with Hezbollah will only lead to more displaced people in Israel.
- The Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC), sent a letter to Nasrallah after the Israeli attacks and vowed "a crushing response from the resistance front soon."
Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said in a meeting with IDF senior commanders on Thursday after Nasrallah's speech that Israel is facing "significant opportunities but also weighty risks" in the fighting with Hezbollah.
- "Hezbollah feels it is being hunted and the sequence of our military operations will continue. Our goal is to return the residents of the north to their homes safely. As time goes by, Hezbollah will pay an increasing price," Gallant said.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional details.
